


Promises Promises

by Telvia



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Angst, Artificial Intelligence, Drama, M/M, Robots, Romance, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 10:51:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10243187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telvia/pseuds/Telvia
Summary: Kyuhyun is a companion bot. Without the knowledge or consent of his owner, Hangeng, E.L.F. Tech outfitted him with extra software that programs him to malfunction little by little every time a promise goes unfulfilled by his owner, eventually causing him to shut down for good. Hangeng is a busy corporate boss that doesn't realize how much Kyuhyun hangs onto his promises in the hopes of making good on them. Will Hangeng be able to keep his promises or will it be too little too late for Kyuhyun?





	

At first, Hangeng had been skeptical when E.L.F. Tech came out with their line of companion droids. They claimed to have a different bot for every budget and models ranged from servants to highly skilled lovers. All bots were custom built to fit the buyer's needs. But Hangeng had also been curious and as a very wealthy CEO of a booming company, he had purchased a bot for himself. He had picked out a male and wanted him to be as human and lifelike as possible, capable of every emotion and one that actually bled if he were to prick his finger. The most expensive of all available models. The bot even chose his own name: Kyuhyun.

That had been years ago and Hangeng never once regretted his luxurious purchase. Kyuhyun soon grew to be more than a droid that cleaned his house or cooked his meals. Servant turned to roommate, roommate to friends, friends to lovers until Hangeng knew he never wanted to be without Kyuhyun. He only wished he didn't have to work as much so he could spend more time with his boyfriend. Although same sex marriage had been legalized, it was not legal to marry a droid. If it was, he knew he would slap a ring on Kyuhyun's finger so fast, his head would spin.

 

 

Hangeng entered their home and immediately called out for Kyuhyun. His brows pulled together when he didn't get a reply. He slid his shoes off by the door and walked through the living room as he looked around. A fancy dinner was spread out along the dining room table complete with flickering candles. His shoulders slumped as he frowned. He didn't think he was running so late as to have missed dinner.

“Kyuhyun?” he called again, loosening his tie as he set his briefcase on one of the chairs of the table.

He blew out the candles just to be on the safe side and headed towards the bedroom, sure to find his other half there. He opened the door and his eyes landed on Kyuhyun who was propped against the wall in a sitting position. His eyes were open but lifeless and Hangeng realized he was recharging. He took a seat on the edge of the bed, waiting for him to finish.

Kyuhyun felt the presence of Hangeng in the room. He shut down the programs he saw running in his mind to be picked up at another time. He lifted his head and smiled at Hangeng as his eyes turned back to their warm brown color.

“Hannie, you're home,” he beamed as he pulled himself to his feet.

“Sorry I'm late, Hyunnie,” Hangeng offered before Kyuhyun dropped a kiss on his lips.

“It's alright,” Kyuhyun smiled as Hangeng wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his head against his lover's stomach.

“You seem to be recharging more these days,” Hangeng whispered. “Should we take you in for a check-up?”

Kyuhyun ran his fingers through Hangeng's hair as he looked down at the top of his head.

“No. I've performed system scans and they all came back normal. Nothing to worry about.”

Hangeng nodded, exchanging a few more words with Kyuhyun before leaving to take a shower. Kyuhyun took his place on the bed and let out a troubled sigh. It hurt him to lie to his companion but he didn't have a choice. He couldn't tell the other that he had to recharge for three extra hours because he had been late for dinner again. How he was growing weaker with every promise that went unfulfilled. How, after years of being let down, it was starting to take its toll.

It didn't matter how small the promise. Each and every one effected him. “I'll be home by nine.” “I'll pick up milk on the way home.” The word “promise” didn't even have to be used, but if it _had_ been, those broken hurt the most. Kyuhyun only hoped Hangeng would keep his word. He knew his lover didn't break it on purpose. That he was a busy man. But he feared … if they continued this way … one broken promise would eventually be the last straw and he would cease to exist. He felt pain just as much as any human. Why should fearing death be any different?

Kyuhyun had changed into pajamas while thinking to himself and listening to Hangeng hum in the shower. He knew dinner was still waiting on the table. He would either clean it up in the morning or they would drift out to the dining room for a midnight snack later. His eyes flashed to the doorway connected to the bathroom to see Hangeng there, a towel draped around his waist.

“And why did you bother putting pajamas on?” he grinned with a quirked brow, crossing his arms over his slick chest as he strode into the room.

“Hannie,” Kyuhyun cooed playfully, a mischievous glint in his eye. “You know I like to make you work for it.”

Kyuhyun let out a delighted squeal as Hangeng dove onto the bed, scooping the smaller up in his strong arms.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

**Kyuhyun's POV**

 

I could feel it. I already knew in my heart that Hangeng was going to be late again tonight. A feeling of dread was hovering around me, mocking my pitiful existence. It made the air thick. It was hard to breathe properly. I glanced up at the clock just as it ticked one minute past Hangeng's promised time. My head swooned and I fell to the floor, everything going black.

 

 

“Kyuhyun? Kyu? _Hyunnie_?”

I blinked my eyes open, my vision out of focus. Hangeng's face swam into view and I smiled.

“Hannie.”

“Kyuhyun, are you okay? I came home to find you on the kitchen floor.”

“I'm fine,” I said dismissively, waving a hand through the air as I propped myself up against the pillows of our bed. “Battery must've been low.”

“But you weren't charging before you just woke up.”

I fought to come up with another excuse. I shrugged.

“Guess I was just tired.”

He frowned but didn't press further. I knew my health was deteriorating because of him, because of his words. But there was nothing I could do.

 

 

Things grew progressively worse for me over the next week. I tried to get him to stop promising things but he didn't catch on. It would just be better if he didn't give me false hope. I could never spend enough time recharging. My battery stores were depleted. I was weak, my body exhausted. Is this what human depression felt like?

The worst happened the following week. Hangeng had called me from his office.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Hyunnie.”

“Hi Hannie,” I smiled into the receiver, holding the phone with both hands. “Are you on your way home?”

“About that. I'm sorry, babe, I'm gonna be a little late. I promise I'll be home within the hour.”

I shook my head frantically, “You don't have to promise. Just get home when you can.”

But it was too late, the word had been said.

“I love you, Kyuhyun.”

“Love you, Hangeng.”

I couldn't get off the phone fast enough. As soon as it was secure in its cradle, I rushed to the bathroom in the hallway, hand over my mouth as my chest rumbled with coughs. I hunched over the toilet bowl and coughed violently, sputtering as I spit up blood.

Hangeng didn't make it home within the hour. My body was racked with painful tremors, muscles spasming as I waited for him to return home. I stayed in the bathroom, needing to spit up blood every few minutes. That's where he found me.

“Kyuhyun! What's wrong?” he cooed as he knelt before me, face and eyes filled with concern. “Do you have a virus?”

I shook my head slowly, biting my lip as the tears rolled down my cheeks. It was the first time his actions had made me cry. I felt completely crushed. My feelings were hurt and I was slowly dying. It was in that moment that I realized I wasn't going to last much longer. Not when he couldn't stick to the simplest of words. Still, I didn't blame him. I still loved him. I was glad he had chosen me, that we had met and I got the chance to know and love him.

“Hannie? Will you stay home with me tomorrow? It's been a long while since we went out on a date.”

He grimaced and I knew, just _knew_ what was coming. I closed my eyes, bracing my heart for the impact.

“I can't skip the whole day, but I _promise_ I'll leave early so we can spend some time together.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

**Hangeng's POV**

 

My day was so busy: full of phone calls, paper work, business meetings. I even worked through my lunch. So busy, I didn't notice the time until it was too late. Much too late. I groaned, silently cursing myself as I dialed home, legs bouncing as I waited for Kyuhyun to pick up. I frowned, knees freezing as the phone just continued to ring. Strange. Kyuhyun always answered. Maybe he was shopping for groceries? No. He wouldn't do that at night. It was time for me to head home anyway so I grabbed my things and rushed out of my office.

Kyuhyun was sleeping when I got home, already snuggled under the blankets of our bed. No wonder he didn't answer the phone. I sat on the edge of the mattress and peered down at his frail face. He hadn't been looking well these past few weeks, but he refused to let me take him in for a check-up. I reached out to brush my knuckles along his soft cheek but pulled back with a gasp as if I had been burned. Not burned. _Frozen_. Kyuhyun was ice cold.

“Kyuhyun!” I urged frantically, shaking him with wide eyes as my heart clambered in my chest.

He didn't budge.

“No, Hyunnie! Wake up!” I growled, tears welling up in my eyes.

Nothing.

I slipped my mobile out of my packet with trembling hands and hit the number to speed dial E.L.F. Tech.

“Hello! Thank you for calling ELF Tech, how may I assist you?” a woman's cheerful voice answered.

“Please! Something's not right! He's not waking up!” I cried into the phone, hot tears streaming down my face.

“Sir? Which model did you purchase?” she asked calmly.

“Kyuhyun! Model number EGM022!”

I heard the fast clicking of typing on a keyboard.

“Oh! Mr. Han,” she said slowly, voice quivering in the slightest. “You'll want to bring Kyuhyun to our closest branch immediately.”

“What's wrong with him?”

“I suggest you hurry, sir.”

 

 

E.L.F. Tech locations were open 24 hours for emergency repairs. So many people had bots nowadays, it was unrealistic for them not to be open at all hours of the day and night. I rushed to the nearest location, about three miles away. Part of the reason we had picked our house after moving out of the apartment was because it was so close to a repair center.

We were showed into a room right away, having been expecting us after receiving a call from headquarters. I gently laid Kyuhyun out on the white sheet of the bed, heart dropping at the way his head flopped to the side.

“Give us a moment, Mr. Han,” the head engineer said. I glanced at his name tag to see it read Kibum.

I nodded and left the room, returning to the empty waiting room. I collapsed into a chair and held my head in my hands. What was wrong with Kyuhyun? He told me his system scans had come back fine, no viruses, no warnings. So why was he so cold? Lifeless? Why wasn't he breathing?

I had to have been sitting in that white room for hours but glancing up at the clock proved it had only been seven minutes. I shot to my feet when the man I had spoken to earlier, Kibum, stepped into the room. His solemn expression hadn't been lost on me.

“No,” I whispered.

“Mr. Han, if you would follow me?”

He lead me past the room Kyuhyun was in, forcing me to move further away from my heart. He gestured towards a room, an office, and I stepped inside but refused to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of the impressive wooden desk.

“Mr. Han, it's about time we explained the side project we equipped into EGM022's system.”

“Kyuhyun,” I muttered. “His name is _Kyuhyun_. I'll listen to whatever you have to say, just please. Can I see him?”

We moved to the room Kyuhyun was in when he understood how stubborn I could become. I rushed to his side and gathered his cold hand in mine, hoping to pass on some of my warmth to him. I would gladly offer half my heart if it meant he could open his eyes. Anything to see those warm, inviting eyes.

“His health deteriorated,” Kibum spoke up from behind me.

“Why?” I whispered, not tearing my gaze from his face.

“Every promise you made that you broke effected him greatly. All of them culminated into this end result.”

“This … this is _my_ doing?” I gasped, heart dropping to the floor along with my knees.

The tears burned my eyes as my vision swam. Kibum was talking but I wasn't listening. This was all my fault! _Why_ would they do this to me? It didn't matter. The damage was already done. I had been the one that pulled the trigger in the end.

“Why didn't he tell me?”

“He was programmed not to mention it.”

“Can you fix him? Can you bring him back to me?” I sobbed as I rubbed his cold hand in my hold. No matter how I tried, it wouldn't take to my warmth.

“You let him down so many times already! How many broken promises do you think it took for him to become like this?” he said incredulously.

“Please,” I begged. “I didn't know. Just … bring him back to me. I'll do whatever it takes!”

I sobbed openly, lowering my face to Kyuhyun's hand to press the frigid flesh against my cheek. I longed for him to touch me, to lift my head and give me that crooked smile while telling me everything was going to be alright. My tears fell onto the white sheet, turning it gray.

“Even if we _could_ repair him, there's a chance he wouldn't wake up as the same man you knew. We would be giving him a hard reboot. Wiping his hard drive completely. You would have to start all over again if it didn't work. He wouldn't be the same person. Are you willing to risk that?”

As crazy as it sounded, I was torn. I loved _this_ Kyuhyun. The one I had let down and broken with my empty words. I would do anything to have him back. That was the other problem. _I would do anything to have him back_. If I couldn't have the old Kyuhyun, I didn't want any Kyuhyun. Then again, I also knew that if we tried, and it failed, I wouldn't just abandon the new Kyuhyun. He had the same smile, same eyes, but I would love them differently. He would be a shadow of my Kyuhyun.

“Let's try,” I whispered.

It was a short procedure, not as if I were in a hospital waiting for my loved one to come out of surgery. A few wires, clicks of keys on a keyboard, a few pushes of buttons and flipping of switches and it was complete. We just had to wait for him to wake up.

“When he comes around, don't say anything. See if he recognizes you,” Kibum said before stepping out to give us privacy.

The wait was worse than the previous one in the waiting room. I stood pressed against the wall, scanning his body for the slightest of movements. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes widened when his eyes twitched. I whispered his name silently, praying it had worked and I had been given a second chance. A tear raced down my cheek when he groaned, voice sounding exactly like my Kyuhyun. Why wouldn't it? He pulled himself up into a sitting position and held his head with his hands.

“Ow.”

He hadn't noticed me yet. I hadn't moved an inch. He turned towards me, head hanging as he pushed himself off the bed.

“Whoa!”

I rushed to him, capturing him in my arms as he stumbled on weak legs. He peered up at me curiously and my heart skipped a beat.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, eyes searching mine.

“Welcome,” I whispered.

“Who are you?”

My heart plummeted and the tears sprang to my eyes, gathering together to fall over the brim. I cried, sobs racking my body as I buried my face in his shoulder.

“Why are you so sad?” he asked me gently, wrapping his arms around me to rub my back with his hands.

It was torture. He looked like my Kyuhyun, sounded like my Kyuhyun, even _smelled_ like my Kyuhyun, but he _wasn't_ my Kyuhyun. Not the one I had fallen in love with all those years ago.

His hands slid up my back to my shoulders, gathering my face to pull it away so he could look at me properly. I sniffled as he examined me, brown eyes roaming from my teary eyes down to my mouth. He seemed lost in thought, almost confused. Then his eyes grew, brows rose and fingers gripped me tighter as his lips parted in a gasp.

“Hannie?”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
